Welcome to my Blog. I hope you enjoy seeing the my cooking experiments and become inspired to try something new for dinner (or dessert) yourself.

Monday, November 07, 2005

My Take on Shepherd's Pie

I had a beef roast that needed to be cooked. On Thursday night I put the roast into the crock pot with some chicken stock (I didn't have any other stock) and half a bottle of Italian salad dressing (it did seem like a strange combination at the time, but I went with it anyway). I let this cook for about 4 hours on the high setting. At the end of the evening, the meat was not very tender and I still didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with it, so I put it into the fridge for the night. Then on Friday morning I pulled the crock out of the fridge and let the crock pot do its thing on low all day. Late Friday night, I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the meat (it was rather tender by now), so again, into the fridge it went for the night. Then on Saturday morning, I started heating up the roast again (still on low) and that's when I decided I would try to make a shepherd's pie.

I looked through my cabinets and found a can of green beans and some instant mashed potatoes. I had considered using other vegetables had I had them on hand, but since my choices were green beans or corn, I figured the beans would work best. To begin, I drained the liquid from the crock pot and started cooking it down with some flour and butter to make gravy. I put the meat in a glass baking dish and topped it with some cheese and then the can of green beans (drained). I then poured some of the gravy over the dish. I next made a big batch of instant potatoes and spread it over the meat and beans. I then covered the dish with foil and put into the fridge since I had to be leaving soon and would not have time to let it bake.

I had planned on having it for dinner on Saturday night, but I had a large lunch and wasn't hungry in the evening. So it remained in the fridge until Sunday morning. I baked it, covered with foil, for about 45 minutes at 325 degrees. I then removed the foil, put some butter on the potatoes and continued to bake it for another 15 minutes uncovered.

I had also reserved some of the gravy so I could pour it over the dish when it was served.

The picture above does not do this dish justice. It was one of the best non-dessert dishes that I've made in a long while. Even though I was full, I went back for more (it was that good). I don't know if it was due to the fact that the meat cooked for 3 days or that the dish sat for a day before being baked or that it contained some of my favorite foods or a combination of all 3, but this meal was great and definitely something I will do again.